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GK: James At the end of the day, Robinson just isn't a goalkeeper who will stop goals that would have been scored otherwise. James is one of the few in England who can do that at the moment. While there are many parts of his game I don't admire, he gets in on the basis of that alone. DF: Neville Terry Ferdinand Cole The Defense line is unquestionable in my opinion. While Richards is a wonderful player and certainly offers much more going forward than Neville does, he still has miles to go before replacing a player like Neville and his massive reserves of concentration, experience, and character. Richards needs to be eased into his international role, instead of getting thrown into the hot seat like Rooney was. Ferdinand and Terry are just flat out the best English central defenders, and at a different class than King, Carragher, and Woodgate. Ferdinand in particular should merit automatic selection. Few defenders in the world share his combination of skill, stability, and the rare ability to go forward. Cole is just better than Bridge, who is just better than Phil Neville. England hasn't really got other options until Leighton Baines gets more experienced. Gareth Barry should play in the midfield which is better suited to his talents. (although I didn't pick him there either.) MF: Gerrard Scholes Hargreaves Cole Gerrard is the best player in England imo, and has proven that he is just as good at the right wing as he is in the center, and I'd much rather drop Lennon at right than drop Scholes/Lampard in the middle for Gerrard. Scholes wins out over Lampard based on recent form, and Lampard's sudden turn towards idiocy on the international level. Hargreaves is another player who I see as pretty much undroppable. He's the only realistic option as a true holding midfielder (although I wouldn't mind seeing Richards tried out in the role,) and prevents England from losing a great deal of posession by having to play Carrick who's style of play just doesn't seem to work on the international level. The only player who could potentially replace Hargreaves would be MAYBE an in-form Parker. Since we haven't seen that for a while, Hargreaves is definitely first in line. Cole is just an amazing player and light years beyond any other options at left wing. CF: Rooney Owen While I don't think they're a good fit as a partnership, the two are simply at a different class than any other English striker. No questions here. <Full Squad> James Robinson Foster Ferdinand Terry King Carragher Neville Richards A. Cole Bridge Gerrard Scholes Lampard Hargreaves Lennon Joe Cole Barry Dyer Rooney Owen Crouch Defoe

Assuming a decent manager ever comes along for the Super Eagles (which admittedly beggars belief sometimes) he will probably just kick some sense into the FA and get Martins reinstated. In the short term, good for us since we don't have to worry about pesky international friendlies. In the long term, definitely hope he gets reinstated since something like this has to be a huge blow to a young lad's confidence. While I hope he ends up missing the African Cup of Nations, he should definitely be back on the squad for the next World Cup. Doubly so considering that with their current crop of youth coming along quite nicely, Nigeria might very well fancy their chances on the first World Cup to be held on their home continent.

As long as we're dreaming... Hiddink>>>>>>>Scolari Especially for a team like ours I would think. I see Scolari as a manager who takes talented players and uses them right. Hiddink is the kind of manager who specializes more in taking s*** players and knocking some sense into them so they do their jobs. I honestly think he could come in and whip up a servicable defense for us within half a season without any buys. Could very easily turn the likes of Bramble, Ramage, and Babayaro into average, playable premiership-level defenders.

Excuse my ignorance, but how much different is that from the one before? And the one before that? and the one before that?

Good for you mate! If you're that sharp, I certainly hope they make you our next manager. Looks like we'll need one pretty soon...

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but surely there was some sort of extrenuating circumstance that caused Roeder to pick Carr over Nobby? Perhaps a minor training knock or a bout of stomach pain or whatnot? I just don't see how he could be that stupid, Picking Carr over Taylor at LB is understandable on some level I suppose, but putting Taylor in over Nobby at RB after having already said that Nobby is our "first-choice right back"? If it's such an obvious choice that everyone on earth can see it except Roeder, maybe he just knows something we don't? ...I sure hope so.

Problem A Add to that other confounding variables. Have certain players played more home games? Have certain players played more games against weaker opposition? Have certain players played more when the team istelf was in bad form? Problem B Winratio: average 29.54 with SD 15.91 Drawratio: average 31.08 with SD 23.24 Lossratio: average 42.23 with SD 17.89 Pretty much none of the statistics, other than the ones with very small sample sizes (Oneywu, O'Brien etc.) are outside of two standard deviatons of the mean. Heck, most of them are within one standard deviation of the mean. Now I'll admit my statistics are a bit rusty, but following standard methodology, this means that we don't have sufficient evidence to prove that anything on that table is attributable to anything other than random chance. While I admire the effort in collecting the numbers, I don't think this is any more convincing proof that certain players are underpreforming than simply watching them and randomly shouting "HEY, Carr is CRAP!"

Judging by the reaction he usually gets, Roeder should just not talk. Ever. Then again, if he did that, people would figure out a way to slate him for that.

lol I'm starting to think that, despite the occasional shit that happens on this board, we still have the most intelligent fans in England. How any respectable site would put a load of bollocks like that on their front page is just beyond me.

I have a bad feeling that we're mostly just being used as a bargaining chip against LOM. I'll hope otherwise though. We can worry about whether he'll be good or not after we figure out if we actually have a shot at signing him.

It will be said, so might as well get it out of the way. "Horrible news, Shola should never ever play for us again" x1000 "Pointless news, Owen will be useless coming back from injury anyway." x1000 Three cheers for the optimism of the Toon Army

And thats from the official site I wish our official site were that honest. I don't know, I wouldn't want to be Babayaro's mother reading an article about her son on an "honest" offical site

How much does everyone want to bet that Alan Olivier will write an article debunking the Gooch, Coloccini, and Babel rumors tomorrow? I swear, these days I get up every morning wondering who we WON'T sign this time. Not who we will.

That's a joke, right? Anyhow, you certainly can't blame the club for selling Chopra. We wanted to keep him, but the lad wanted to leave. Can't blame him really either, it's looking like the best move of his career so far. Here's to Chopra making it big and us buying him back for 15 mil in five years time.

"Ramage is trying to play footall! STOP HIM!"

Perfect goalie for the cockney mackems tbh. He'll cost 'em 10+ goals a season, and they'll be happy with it, raving on about how he's world class....

I think Darius Henderson is the one selection that everybody HAS to agree on. I'll admit I'm fairly young, but has there ever been another striker that has been so obviously outclassed in the premiership?

I haven't seen that much of Traore, but surely he can give Baba a run for his money at left back? As for a Worst XI, you could probably just plug in Watford's first team at the moment, but if I had to try... Kenny Carr, Diawara, Ramage, Traore Etherington, Faye, Ambrose, Stewart (Jordan) Henderson, Zamora Personally a bit shocked that nobody else has been mentioning Darius Henderson...

That's just stupid, I couldn't care less. Anyway he's finished man, he will never be the player he once was because he's lost that sharpness and the stamina, and coupled with a lack of altheticism and a poor record of niggly injuries, the best he has to offer is fleeting performances against lesser teams. We need to stop buying players whose best years were played elsewhere Call it stupid if you'd like, that's how I feel. Besides, it's probably stupid to write off a 27-year-old as "finished" over a year and a half of bad form. Although, this being Newcastle United at all, I'm not exactly raving to stake money that he'll make a dramatic comeback... But I still think he's worth a keep, at utter worst, he's a decent backup at left wing.

Just imagine. If we sold him for 7 mil right now and he regains his old form back at Tottenham, the Cockney Mackems would never let us hear the end of it. Even if he turns out to be utterly useless, I'd rather keep him on our books than take that risk tbh.

Skirge mate you'd be happy if we signed Boris Johnson! To be honest, at this point I'd be happy if we signed the entire Thailand national squad just for the heck of it.

What?!... Babayaro is an absolutely aweful defender! And for all we know at this point, Bale could be an even worse one. Heck, if I recall correctly even Babayaro was considered "highly promising" back in his heyday.

: Quite an enlightening thread this is. Welcome aboard mate, theres no getting off this rollercoaster and I mean it when I say rollercoaster, make sure you have a healthy heart, haha! I was born in Newcastle so I've just grown up with it. I can't afford to go to games really but I'm an avid fan. Like FlapjackJoe said "When you stay awake an entire January till 4am clicking refresh on 20 different websites (with Sky Sports News on in the background) to see the latest player we have been linked with in the transfer market ... and then wake up at 7am to see if they unveiled someone in the 3 hours you were asleep, then you know you've become a real fan." I agree with this 'cause its what I do every January haha, such a good laugh (or a good cry!) Thats me without the SSN in the background.. Me too. Of course, the above situation impies that they ever do get around to actually unveiling a player...

What must be kept in mind is that Queensland "coach" Frank Farina is a media whore, and also that while utterly incompetent, the former national team mentor has strong ties with his former charges... Sounds to me that far from choosing to come home to Australia Moore is deemed surplus to requirements and will be allowed to leave on a free. And to think they gave Bumble a new contract :roll: I cant believe that his choice would be to go back home to play. As someone once said, "your a long time retired" and he'd regret it for the rest of his life imo if he chose to go home next season rather than stay on for another season in the big time however shite we may be next season. Im not his greatest fan but he is definatly one of our best centre halfs if not THE best. I can understand the impulse though. The A-League is growing rapidly and having a famous local star come back from the big leagues is always an excellent crowd draw. Plenty of non-English players in the later stages of their careers return to their home leagues, even if they might be slightly lower in quality, because they figure it's a good time to give back to Football in their home country by helping their local league develop.

It's scary already - that from 8 yards he has the uncanniest habit of hitting the 'keeper when there are yards of empty net to hit. Amazing really. Of course! Maritns doesn't want to score goals, he just wants to take out his adolescent pent-up rage on opposing keepers by chucking rocket shots at their faces ...Oh, wait... :